Inside, the centre was occupied by a very striking hall and magnificent staircase. This hall was spacious, but of irregular plan and height, its staircase portion having been lofty. The other portion was much less irregular, and had its ceiling sustained by two wooden columns, with well-worked Corinthian capitals. There was an elegant chimney-piece of black marble, mantle and jambs flanked with carved pilasters, and surmounted by an entablature, on the frieze of which, carved, painted and gilt, were the Lovelace and Eynsham arms and supporters. The panelling of this hall was, however, not of the highest quality, having been merely of mahogany-coloured deal, slightly moulded. The staircase and its gallery had a railing of small twisted balusters. The steps were of deal and perhaps of compa­ratively late erection. However, the walls and ceiling of the stairs were well worthy of observation, having been embellished with groups of foliage, flowers, fruit, birds and instruments of war, the chace and music, interspersed with the arms and crests of the Lovelaces and associated families, all beautifully executed in high relief, partly of plaster and partly of papier-mâché and in excellent preservation. The arms were those of Lovelace, quartering Eynsham, Wentworth and Pye, from which it would appear that they were probably put up between 1680 and 1690. Here and there, among the foliage, were stags at gaze, the Wentworth crest, and monograms of the word Lovelace.

In the hall were the modern arms of Westminster Abbey and, in the principal chambers, were those of Lovelace and Eynsham with supporters, Lewin and Williams, and of Rev. Dr. Joseph Wilcocks as Bishop of Rochester and Dean of the Order of the Bath. There was also a shield charged with a single crescent and a fleur-de-lis and, on a black shield, a mono­gram of the first Greek letters of the word Christ, curiously supported by swords and spears. Some rooms had very old wallpaper, while others had their panels coloured like marble and another had small panels painted in blue and white with subjects resembling those of Dutch tiles.

The room which attracted the greatest admiration, however, was the ‘saloon’, above stairs. This was about forty-four feet long by twenty-four feet wide, and surrounded by landscapes in chiaroscuro on deal panels of various sizes, from fourteen inches by thirty-two inches to four feet six inches by six feet six inches. They were all painted in oil in a free style, the small ones with a greenish-grey colour, but the large ones with reddish-brown, the highlights of all being put on with silver lacker. They were views of the wild scenery of Calabria and more probably from the pencil of Pietro Tempesta than of Salvator Rosa, to whom they were attributed. The ceiling was also in oil and not improbably by Verrio, having been well designed and finely coloured. It represented an assemblage of gods and goddesses, previous to a banquet, as was supposed from a curious cooking scene introduced in one corner, the principal figure of which held a large knife, while another had a spit on which were two fowls and several boys, winged like angels carried fruit. The figures of these cooks were probably interpolations by one Francis Thorn of Vauxhall who was employed to restore the ceiling and varnish the paneling at the turn of the 19th century.

In this mansion were, no doubt, several portraits of its ancient possessors. Certainly there was one of the unfortunate Admiral Kempenfelt, now in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. After the building's demolition, some of them, were housed for a while in a nearby farmhouse. One represented a person in ecclesiastical robes, perhaps Bishop Wilcocks, another was the portrait of a king, probably King William III, and, another, that of a lady. The Lovelace portraits had been removed some time earlier and at least one was sold in 1838 by a picture dealer in Marylebone Street, London to a gentleman of the Milbanke family in the north of England.

The End

Having been tenantless for eleven years, in December 1837, the owner decided to dispose of this historic mansion which was, by then, in a considerable state of disrepair. It was first offered for sale for £500, but, having no takers, the house, fixtures and furnishings were divided up into lots for public auction. This realised a total of £1,500 because there was so much competition amongst the locals for its orna­mental portions. Mr. Budd, a solicitor from Newbury, expended nearly £300 for about thirty of the panels, the columns and the fireplace in the hall, with the staircase and stairs. A few of the best panels were purchased by Fuller Maitland of Park Place in Remenham, and two pairs of panels, six feet four inches by four feet two inches, by Mr. Preece, a Maidenhead upholsterer. Others were bought by a Mr. Green of High Wycombe. The painted ceiling, unfortunately, crumbled to pieces upon the removal of its framework, but a few of the heads were preserved by Mr. Freebody, a carpenter from Hurley. All the beautiful papier-mâché works, which came off the ceiling with but little injury and were about twenty in number, were purchased by Mr. Bond, a builder from Marlow, who sold them in London. The house was demolished shortly afterwards.